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Tutorial Tuesday: How to play Dreidel

As Love and I were talking about the Hanukkah traditions he explained to me about the dreidel and how it is played. When he said it was a game of gambling I was immediately interested. The game is very easy to learn and so I thought I’d teach all of you how to play. First thing you need to play dreidel, is a dreidel. A dreidel is a four sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side. Each letter stands for a different outcome for a player’s turn.

Image Credit: canaan-online.com

Each player is given an equal number of tokens used to gamble. With kids it’s usually some sort of candy but adults can play for money. At the beginning of each game every player antes a token into the pot. Then everyone gets to take a turn spinning the dreidel.

Image Credit: oldtimecandy.com

Each side of the dreidel has a letter corresponding to what they win (or lose). Gimel means they win the entire pot. Hay means they get half the pot. With Nun they get nothing. And Shin means put three into the pot. When a player is out of tokens they are out of the game and when the pot is empty everyone still in the game antes up again. The game is over when one player has all the tokens.

What games do you like to play during the holidays?

— Yvonne

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Yvonne Marcus

Hello! I'm Yvonne. I'm a wife and mother of one. We are currently living in Asheville and taking advantage of everything that it has to offer. (Image Credit: Continuum Photography)

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Hey, I’m Yvonne!

My life’s passion is to help moms lead their ideal life. My hope is that I’ll be able to help you live that life as well. The life you were meant to live all the time and not just in those quiet moments at home.